A variety of policy watchdog organizations are tracking the flood of contracts being awarded by the federal government for clean-up work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Taxpayers for Common Sense has been assembling a compilation of contracts, along with basic information on the contractor and a summary of its lobbying activities and federal PAC contributions. Seehttp://www.taxpayer.net/budget/katrinaspending/contracts/index.htm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Over 2,000 companies named in final Volcker report

More than 2,000 companies, including industrial giants such as Siemens and DaimlerChrysler, were named in the final report of the Independent Inquiry Committee on the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, which is headed by Paul Volcker. The 623-page report accused the companies of helping the former regime of Saddam Hussein divert some $1.8 billion from the program, which was supposed to allow humanitarian supplies to reach the Iraqi people during the period of UN-endorsed economic sanctions. The full text of the report and the accompanying data tables are at: http://www.iic-offp.org/story27oct05.htm

The Environmental Working Group has greatly expanded its database on the safety of chemicals in cosmetics and other personal-care items so that more than 14,000 products are now included. The database, called Skin Deep, is meant to fill an information gap left by industry and government. EWG says that 90% of the ingredients in the products it has analyzed haven't been screened for safety by federal regulators. Skin Deep can be found at: http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Federal Procurement Data System still under fire

The Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation--the overhauled database of federal government contracts--continues to attract criticism. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office < http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05960r.pdf > raised questions about the timeliness and accuracy of data, ease of use of the system and the inclusion of data on interagency contracting. Meanwhile, Global Computer Enterprises, the contractor that developed the new system and retains ownership of it, has announced that the General Services Administration has extended its contract.

A new white paper called A Matter of Trust examines the various forms of the revolving door in the federal government and makes recommendations for addressing the disproportionate influence of corporate America over federal policymaking brought about by the movement of key individuals back and forth between the public and the private sectors. The report was produced by the Revolving Door Working Group, a coalition of groups such as Public Citizen, Project On Government Oversight, Common Cause and more than a dozen others. Dirt Diggers editor Phil Mattera wrote the chapter on the industry-to-government form of the revolving door. The full text of the report and information on the Working Group are at www.revolvingdoor.info.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued proposals for modifications in the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) progam that have raised serious concern among environmentalists and public-health advocates. The EPA wants to allow companies to report their emissions every other year rather than the current annual schedule. The threshold at which the reporting requirement kicks in would rise tenfold to 5,000 pounds, and facilities would be allowed to withhold information on low-level production of persistent bioaccumulative toxins, including lead and mercury, which are considered dangerous even in very small quantitites. The EPA proposal is at:http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/modrule/phase2/TRI%20Burden%20Reduction%20Proposal%20FR.pdf For more on the OMB Watch response to the proposal, seehttp://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ombwatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1324

LexisNexis continues to repackage its vast archive to serve specialized corporate needs. Recently, it announced a new service called Negative News, which according to a press release ( http://www.lexisnexis.com/about/releases/0836.asp ) "enables users to find out important information about an individual or organization that might not be readily available through regular public records searches. Users only need to input the name of a person or business, and Negative News automatically builds a powerful search that identifies articles in which the name of the person or business appears in close proximity to mentions of criminal acts, bankruptcies or illicit behavior. Examples of terms that Negative News looks for in the text of articles include 'bribe,' 'drug,' 'felony,' 'misconduct,' 'negligence,' and 'theft.' " The price of the service was not announced, but given the ongoing wave of corporate corruption, this product would seem to have a promising future.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. New a la carte source for small-company profiles

LexisNexis recently introduced another product aimed at users without deep pockets. Accurint Business < https://www.accurintbusiness.com/ > makes available basic information about a universe of more than 25 million small and medium businesses at prices ranging from $2 to $4 a pop, charged to a credit card. The data include items such as addresses, state corporate records and bankruptcy, UCC and tax lien filings. The $4 report includes basic D&B content such as number of employees and estimated sales. The service draws from the content assembled by Accurint, a public records vendor bought by LexisNexis in 2004.

Dirt Diggers Digest editor Phil Mattera, wearing his other hat as head of the Corporate Research Project, has just posted a new guide to doing corporate research online. The 23-page document, which replaces a much shorter guide, focuses on ways to gather intelligence on any corporation's key relationships and on its social (ir)responsibility record. The guide can be found athttp://www.corp-research.org/howto.htm

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A cumulative index of sources (with links) mentioned in issues of the Dirt Diggers Digest can be found at:www.corp-research.org/dirt_diggers_index.htm.